For me, the worst writing generally just 'flips' things: this person's really a traitor; it was all a dream; etc. Nothing is so ruinous as a forced 'twist,' I think.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
The thing I hate the most in any kind of writing is self-righteousness. Where you pretend you don't have the same kinds of flaws your subject has.
I wrote the worst novel ever.
The worst story I ever wrote was after the conviction of Jeff Skilling and Ken Lay. My co-author and I wrote a piece for 'Fortune' saying everything's going to be different now.
For me, especially with the villain, it's not very interesting to write a guy who is just 100% bad.
Of all fatiguing, futile, empty trades, the worst, I suppose, is writing about writing.
You can tell when a writer moves out of a place of struggle and into a place of comfort, and it's always a bad thing.
I like to be surprised. The best writing is when it defies me, when it starts going a different way than I had planned.
For me, writing is such an escape, and I felt very lucky to have this to run away to.
I think writers like to see how people bring their words to life, and it's always surprising. Always, no matter what, whether it's good or bad, it's always surprising because a whole human being is coming to that piece of writing.
Writing is turning one's worst moments into money.